On January 25th, 2015 the Haitian government requested the extension both in time and numbers of the UN peace mission MINUSTAH due to the anticipation of “turmoil” during the upcoming elections. The mission had just been reduced in half four months earlier after ten years on the ground and shifting contexts of deployment (post-conflict, gang activities, disaster, political instability). This paper studies how framing Haiti as a case of state failure allows to legitimize the continuous (and numerous) presence of international organizations in the country. We will show that this framing leads to the concrete implementation and partial centralization of security standards. The analysis will therefore focus on the normative force of concepts in international organizations and how they are integrated in the policy making process of international public policies. The paper will use data on humanitarian action and peacekeeping operations in Haiti from 2004 (coup against Aristide) to 2014.
